NAYPYITAW, 17 September 2021, (TON): Locals found the bodies of five more villagers killed in Magway Region’s Gangaw Township this week, presumably by junta troops who have been occupying this area of northwestern Myanmar since September 9.

At least three of the bodies showed signs of torture, according to eyewitnesses. Oo Thu, age 30, and Maung Shwe, 50, were found on Monday just south of their home village of Hmwae Lal, 50km from Gangaw town. Their bodies were bruised and they had been shot in the stomach.

Another body of a 30-year-old man with an intellectual disability was found on Tuesday and had been visibly mutilated, according to a local. He was also from Hmwae Lal.

The local said “there was a knife wound on his neck. It appears that they slit his throat. We are assuming that they stabbed him first, cut off his private parts and ultimately slit his throat.”

The three villagers went missing on September 11 when the junta soldiers who occupied Hmwae Lal that day arrested them, the local said. The troops moved on to station themselves in other villages the following day.

The bodies of two men in their 20s from Yae Shin, 15km from Hmwae Lal—were also found on Tuesday afternoon in the forest outside their village. They were identified as Naing Lin Tun and Phoe Phyu, who had gone missing while returning to Yae Shin from Gangaw on September 12.